From January 16 to 24 in Park City, Utah, WireImage co-founder
and photographer Jeff Vespa led the company’s team of 80
photographers, editors, and support staff in capturing highlights
from the Festival’s extensive events calendar—including
portraits of the actors and filmmakers in attendance—and
sending them to a global audience.

Randall Michelson had been covering the Festival since 1991. In
1998, Jeff Vespa joined the effort and in 2001, when WireImage was
formed, the company began providing extensive coverage. Finally,
last year, Patrick Hubley, head of press for the Sundance Film
Festival, offered the entire project to Vespa and co. Their
technical skill, experience with a project, and the good
relationships created with program organizers, celebrities, and
media outlets were fully recognized.

The Portrait Studio: Sundance Hot Spot

The Portrait Studio, formally known as the HP Portrait Studio
Presented by WireImage, provided

Randall Michelson took this outdoor portrait of
Zooey Deschanel, “Eulogy.”

official portrait photography for filmmakers and film talent in
this year’s festival competition. Recalls Vespa, “My
overall objectives were to fulfill my obligations to the Sundance
Institute—ensure they received everything they
needed—create a pleasing environment for talent, and deliver
on sponsorship value promises.”

The Studio was open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. By 9, Vespa was usually
there to work with the art department on sets for that day, review
the appointment schedule, and meet with sponsor management.

“I shot back-to-back appointments all day and worked with
the publicists and managers, who accompanied the celebrities. At
the end of the day, I worked on the portraits I shot that day,
attended one of our sponsor events, or shot an event myself.
Sometimes, all three!”

Scheduling the portraits and coordinating talent is the real
challenge. Vespa attributes their success to his producer Andrea
Collins, “an extraordinary multi-tasker and overall
perfectionist.”

“They’re on tight schedules, running between press
conferences, viewings, and parties,” Collins explains.
“If they only have time in their schedules for one photo
shoot, I have to convince their publicists that ours is the one to
choose. Each day poses a new challenge: appointments are
rescheduled, talent show up unexpected, casts are late. It’s
a constant juggling act.”

The WireImage team created 15 sets for the studio, for which
everything was trucked in from L.A. They were constructing, setting
up, and adding finishing touches until the last possible
minute.

Recalls art director Edward Murphy, “The most gratifying
thing was to finally see the sets captured in the photos. They
looked better than I could ever have hoped for. It was a fantastic
whirlwind—right up my alley.”

Photographer Randall Michelson took outdoor portraits for this
year’s Festival. “I want these photos to have a
definite sense of time and place,” he says. “This is
Sundance and we’re out in the snow. We’re not in red
carpet Hollywood.”

[Editor’s Note: Michelson is currently working on a book
of his photos from Sundance, Pictures in the Snow.]

“I met Jeff Vespa at the Sundance Film Festival a number
of years ago and we started working together. He dragged me into
the digital age, introducing me to scanners and
computers.”